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Thursday, August 19, 2010

SDCC Shakedown - the Top 10 things that will take my money in the year to come - Part 2

Carrying on with my rundown of the items and lines that caught my attention, and will subsequently probably capture my paycheck, at this year's SDCC, here's the Final Five (again with thanks to Michael Crawford's amazing SDCC 2010 coverage at www.mwctoys.com):

Hot Toys Ghost Rider

Oh wait, I said I wasn't going to buy any more Hot Toys after War Machine. Oops! I forgot about good old Johnny Blaze, but it's not just because HT is making Ghost Rider - they're making his bike too. His bike! That's just too amazing to miss. War Machine is due out soon, I'll be picking up Ghost Rider, and then that's it for me and Hot Toys. We are totally, totally done. Unless, oh, you don't think they'll make Green Lantern movie figures, do you? Uh-oh...

Marvel Universe

I'd much prefer to be listing Marvel Legends here, but while I'm keen to pick up this year's Two-Packs (Valkyrie!) I will wait to get too excited about the promised revival of Marvel Legends until I see it. In the meantime, Hasbro is keeping the Marvel flame alive for the 3 3/4" collectors with an ever expanding range of characters (and endless IronSpiderene variants, natch), an extension of the Secret Wars Two-Packs to a wider range of themes, and adding some sweeteners like Thanos, Bill Foster Goliath and the amazing Galactus!

If Hasbro could only do something about the widely varying quality of these figures, most likely due to the use of a range of factories for production, they'd have my undying enthusiasm. In the meantime, Galactus will do!

Kotobukiya Bishoujo PVC Statue Series

I will soon be reviewing Psylocke and Phoenix from the Koto Marvel Bishoujo series, and it was great to see the final proof of the upcoming Emma Frost statue at SDCC, plus a sketch for Ms Marvel. The best news of all, however, is that Kotobukiya will producing a DC line of this series as well, with Batgirl, Wonder Woman and Catwoman the first on the way. These statues are a bit on the pricey side for vinyl, at least here in Australia, but as much as I've enjoyed some of DC Direct's Ame-Comi series, I much prefer Koto's more "comic accurate with anime stylings" approach to the genre, and will be happy to my anime-styled vinyl super-ladies of all denominations at the same scale on my shelves - a phrase which I realise would sound very, very bad if it were taken out of context!

Bowen Statues and Busts

Bowen didn't have any new reveals to show at SDCC, mainly because Randy Bowen does such an amazing job of providing regular sneaks of upcoming pieces, and in fact consulting fans about poses and styles and even making changes to sculpts based on fan feedback. Still, there's no way I can leave Bowen off of this list, as they did make a showing at SDCC 2010 and they are going to be getting a good chunk of my entertainment budget in the year to come.

I have a pretty big collection of Bowen Busts already - focusing mainly on the Avengers and X-Men with some odds and sods thrown in, but there is SO much coming up in the year to come from Bowen that I'm really excited about, including Busts of Daimon Hellstrom and the Wrecking Crew, lots of Asgard love, including the Enchantress and Hela, and Full Sized Statues of Banshee and Valkyrie. When it comes to Marvel - make mine Bowen!

DC Universe Classics

Leaving DCUC til the end is of course saving the best until last. Distribution problems, numerous retailer exclusives and a lacking female buck aren't enough to take the shine off the amazing thing Mattel is doing with the DC Universe. Mattel continues to amaze by filling out the ranks of the big names of the DC Universe (Martian Manhunter is just a few months away folks, you can make it...) while continuing the provide those "wow" characters and teams - Metal Men and Doom Patrol anyone? For anyone who loves the breadth and depth of the DC Universe, this line continues to be a dream come true.

Not that Mattel needed to do any more to win my allegiance, but the Legion of Superheroes 12 Pack that will be exclusive to Mattycollector.com in 2011 kinda seals the deal. Yes, I would have liked to see more female characters, but the inclusion of Matter-Eater Lad seems to me to be a nod from Mattel to just how weird and wonderful the world of the Legion is, and I am confident we can expect more to come. Thanks Mattel!

I want to pick up those Koto Bishoujo gals so much. For whatever reason I'm not feeling the batgirl, not sure why.MU Constrictor can't get here fast enough. Ditto Galactus and thanos.Nothing against Bowen but Kotobukiya will get my statue monies first.

nice Wrap up , i like that Thanos in mu did not become an exclusive. even though already have one the bowmen busts and the statues not my thing. that ghost rider is realy tempting mostly because i can not believe hot toys given the size they do would go through the cost of making his bike also. wonder if they would ever do a red hulk. and green Lantern movie figures will proably show up in hot toys line.

I really like DC Universe Classics but the cost is really a bit out of my range to do more than pick and choose. Marvel Universe on the other hand is not just calling for me, its like a zombie debt collector calling me at all hours, at home and at work telling me that if I do not buy it might have to re-arrange my knees.

I like Marvel U. Thanos kind of. There's some more Infinity Gauntlet action going down in Avengers and probably other books according to Bendis and Brevoort. Maybe they'll give us Cosmic Avengers or something in Marvel Universe. If not, I'll take Marvel Select.

Could that "Dark Hawkeye" be any more obviously a cheaply-repainted Secret Wars Hawkeye? Can't wait to see them do Dakken. Hey, maybe Clint Barton as Goliath, same size as the other figures! Repaint a Piledriver!